Crackup of the Catholic Left

What’s going on with the Catholic left? Michael Sean Winters drew wide notice for his break with the Obama administration over its contraceptive and abortifacient mandate last week, and many eyebrows were raised when the fiercely liberal Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles began denouncing the administration for the same reason.

Now Richard Stith (a pro-union, Catholic Democrat who has opposed Republican calls to “repeal and replace” Obamacare) has very reluctantly declared his support for—-of all things—-right-to-work laws. The reason? Stith can’t bear the way that unions funnel money to pro-abortion candidates.

As a long-time union supporter, I have opposed the proposed law, fearing that unions would become weaker as employees became tempted by economic hardship, especially in these tough times, into disaffiliating in order not to pay their fair share of bargaining costs.

The Catholic bishops have brought up a new issue: employee conscience. They point out that some unions “use their resources to support politicians or political parties that clearly devalue the sanctity of human life or the institution of marriage.” President Obama and the national Democratic Party come readily to mind (even though there are a quite few “Democrats for Life,” like myself, at the grassroots level of the Party). Without right-to-work legislation, some employees are forced to violate their consciences, since the required fees indirectly enable mothers and fathers to turn tragically against their own children, dismembering them in the womb.

My own position has thus changed. If the national Democratic Party became neutral on abortion, or if Indiana unions ceased to support that party, I would oppose right-to-work laws. Until one of those things happens, I reluctantly support the proposed legislation.

This is striking. Stith (whose views I would not conflate with Winters’ or Mahony’s) is a representatives of a tradition of blue-collar, working class, Catholic liberalism. It’s a tattered tradition, sure, and many pro-lifers broke with the party long ago. Yet a Democratic party increasingly strident on what it calls “reproductive health” is alienating even the most loyal hold-outs.

What we’re seeing is a second crack-up of the Catholic left and, perhaps, a new generation of Reagan Democrats. I hope that Republicans looking to capitalize on this disappointment will do so by standing firmly (and consistently ) for life.